How To: Make your Resolutions Resolute

Welcome to the first post of 2012! This is going to be the year of Mishaps! And I don’t mean that to say that I fully intend on making tons of mistakes throughout the year, although that’s bound to happen anyway and makes for better stories. This year, Mishaps of an Almost Adult is going to grow and become a world-wide phenomenon! Or so I’d like to hope.

DISCLAIMER: I am by no means an expert on any topic I choose to write about from here on out, but maybe the things that I've gone through or are going through currently relate to you and can help you in some way. At the very least, you can laugh at/with me, remembering that one time that maybe you too felt like a complete moron, as I go through the many Mishaps of an Almost Adult.

One of the hardest parts for me about being an Almost Adult was switching from having a set-in-stone goal to kind of flying by the seat of my pants. Our whole lives, we were working towards something extremely specific. Graduating from high school turned into getting into college. Getting into college turned into graduating from college. Graduating from college turned into getting a job. Getting a job turned into… um, what am I supposed to do next? Retire?

So now I have the next 40 years of my life to plan in between. I can’t exactly plan on getting married or settling down considering that I haven’t met anyone worthy of marrying or settling down yet, so that’s a little tricky to put a timeline on.

I can’t plan on getting a better job. What counts as better? More money? I think better would be writing my blog full-time, so if you feel like paying me more than what I make now to write on here and make you laugh, I love you! Thank you! I’m eagerly awaiting my first check.

What do we do in the meantime? Life without goals is kind of a little aimless. I just Googled “quotes about goals” because my current goal is to inspire you to set goals for yourself in order to fulfill my goal of helping to make you happier and wiser Almost Adults.

My favorite quote I did find was one by Charles C. Noble (that sounds like a solid name that I’m willing to take advice from – although I had to Google “Who is Charles C. Noble?” to make sure I wasn’t giving you advice from some mass murderer who once said something wonderful. Don’t worry. He was a relatively-sane, non-murdering author). He said, “You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures."

As I was reading through all of the wisdomnosity of successful people that end up being quoted on sites that pull up when you Google “quotes about goals,” I noticed a lot of the same words throughout all of the quotes. Control. Plan. Current. Future. Aim. Short-term. Long-term. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have control over your life by planning for not only your current situation, but your future? Aim for not only the short-term goals you could easily set and conquer, but the long-term ones as well.

So here’s my advice on making your 2012 New Years Resolutions good ones:

1. As Yogi Berra said, “If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Look at all of my good quotes today. Thank goodness I found that quote website.
2. Thing big. Pick something you’re really willing to work towards. Don’t just think on the small scale like “drink more water,” but consider your life as a whole, rather than just right now.
3. Make yourself accountable. Write your goal down someplace where you see it on a regular basis. Tell your friends you talk to most about it and have them check up on you. Are you working to obtain it?
4. If you fall off track, well, get back on. There’s no excuse for giving up on a goal. They’ll still be there waiting for you to pick them back up, no matter how side tracked you got. How reliable and loyal of them.
5. Part of having a long-term goal is setting short-term goals that end up with you meeting your long-term goal. Set up a strategy for how you’re going to make it work.
6. Start today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Change is way less scary and terrible when you’re the one in control.
7. The best and worst thing about personal goals are that they are just that; personal. Its you that’s in control here. When it all boils down, you’re the one who can make or break those dreams, so dream big. Make it happen.

I’m still waiting on my first check to arrive in the mail towards me writing full time. I guess I can keep dreaming, right?